When I started in manufacturing, “The Gals” were in the office- not the shop.

122 women who make a difference in Manufacturing today

The inaugural group of 122 STEP honorees recognized by the Manufacturing Institute on February 5th in Washington D.C. showed me that the times have changed and that there are many, many ways that women can and do meaningfully contribute to manufacturing at their companies as

Plant and Production Managers,

Operations,

Engineers,

Technologists,

Process Control,

Regulatory Affairs,

Certified Welders,

CNC Machine Operators,

Weld Process Specialists,

Quality Control,

Health,

Environment,

Process Safety,

Chief Financial Officer,

Designers and Design Engineers,

Compliance Officers,

Chief Scientists,

Safety,

Quality,

Black Belts,

Training and Apprenticeship Instructors,

Manufacturing Lead,

Product Development,

Sales and Marketing,

Information Technology,

Lead Analyst,

Business Development,

Continuous Improvement,

Planning and Shipping,

Designer,s and Design Engineers

Information Security,

Assembly,

Legal and Corporate Affairs,

Systems Development,

President,

CEO

Owners

I am certain that I missed a few…

PMPA is proud to recognize our member and Vice President Darlene Miller, CEO of Permac Industries in Burnsville MN as one of this inaugural group of honorees.

“Darlene’s leadership reaches far beyond PERMAC. As a member of the President’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness she recognized the need for trained high skill workers and led the creation of Right Skills Now training program and helped support the 10,000 Engineers nationwide engineering student retention program. She was named small business person of the year in 2008 by the U.S. Chamber, and serves as an officer and board member at PMPA as well as a number of other nonprofits.”

Congratulations to Darlene and all the women recognized for their vital role in manufacturing today. And thanks to the Manufacturing Institute for helping raise the awareness of the vital need for the talents that these and all women bring to our shops.

Yes, I would like to see my daughter get into manufacturing. Wouldn’t you?

Welcome to our blog, Speaking of Precision. As Director of Technology and Industry Research for PMPA, I bring 38 years of hands-on experience in areas of manufacturing, quality and steelmaking. I help answer "HOW?","WITH WHAT?" and "REALLY?"